America has always been blessed with abundant natural resources;
but we sometimes fail to recognize that we have been blessed with rich
human resources as well. Millions of people in thousands of
professions have built this great country with their labor and made a
reality of the American Dream for themselves and their families. But
for 20 percent of our population, that dream has too often been
deferred or denied. Americans with disabilities have had to overcome
barriers in communication, transportation, architecture, and attitude
to take their rightful place in our Nation's work force.

If America is to continue to grow and prosper, if we are to lead
the challenging global economy of the 21st century, we cannot afford to
ignore the talents, energy, and creativity of the 54 million Americans
with disabilities. Thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act, we
are making significant progress in eliminating workplace discrimination
and ensuring equal job opportunities for people with disabilities.
This landmark civil rights legislation, enacted 7 years ago with
bipartisan support, has opened doors and brought down barriers across
our country for people with disabilities. It has empowered them with
the opportunity to become employees, taxpayers, and active participants
in the life of their communities.

To build on this progress, government at every level must work in
partnership with business, labor, and community organizations to ensure
that all Americans, regardless of disability, can live and learn and
work alongside their fellow citizens. Only when we guarantee the
inclusion, empowerment, and independence of all our people will America
fulfill its great promise of freedom and opportunity.

To recognize the full potential of individuals with disabilities
and to encourage all Americans to work toward their full integration
into the work force, the Congress, by joint resolution approved August
11, 1945, as amended (36 U.S.C. 155), has designated October of each
year as "National Disability Employment Awareness Month."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United
States of America, do hereby proclaim October 1997 as National
Disability Employment Awareness Month. I call upon government
officials, educators, labor leaders, employers, and the people of the
United States to observe this month with appropriate programs and
activities that reaffirm our determination to achieve the full
integration into the work force of people with disabilities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of
October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven,
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twenty-second.